Cairo Daily News (1919)

[Darman]

August 1, 1919

Private memo to the King from Major Faisal, chief observer with Italian ground forces. 

The Italians have demanded the surrender of Eliat and the New Zionite defenders refused.  However they did allow the evacuation of their civilians. 
Unfortunately our military's weakness in the use of gaseous weapons has been revealed.  I was the horrified witness to a New Zionite gas attack on the Italian lines.  Thank Allah they allowed me to borrow some anti-gas equipment!  Its rather strange, walking around wearing a box on your head but it allows you to breathe when surrounded by the clouds of gas.  We really need this equipment as soon as possible! 

I will note my continued resistance to the new concept of using motorized vehicles in combat.  They are proving unreliable to the Italians down here.  They claim it is the terrain but I believe horsed cavalry can do just as good a job at scouting if not better, since horsed cavalry makes no noise and doesn't rely on petrol. 

Personal letter from Leftenant Abdul, aid to Major Faisal, to the Crown Prince

We observed several Italian armored cars the other day.  They appear to be having trouble with terrain and mechanical breakdowns but I disagree with the Major, these types of vehicles have their use in modern warfare.  The Major is stuck in the last century with visions of massive cavalry charges winning the day.  Nothing will ever turn my father away from the horse. 

[Darman]

Excerpt from the August 1st edition of the Cairo Cryer:

Today an anonymous source within the Foreign Ministry has divulged that the Egyptian government has been recently approached by an unknown inquiring about the possibility of purchasing sovereign Egyptian territory; Chagos.  The end results of such an inquiry should be obvious to every native Egyptian. 

[ctwaterman]

*chuckles* Subtle I like the Egyptian Paper has the Italian Magistrate in Cairo buy a subscription or two

[Darman]

August 6th

More information about the purported acquisition of Chagos came out yesterday.  In a stunning turn of events it has been revealed that one of the warring parties to our south made the offer.  And that with it came hefty personal bribes to the Foreign Minister and the Royal Family but nothing for the nation, except a promise of peace!  And they expected us to back down before such threats?  Never!  Apparently what they cannot win by force they hoped to achieve by deceit! 

OOC: The Cairo Cryer is a gossip/opposition newspaper

August 7th
A memoir of the recent war against Italy is published, with many gory details about Italian atrocities.  This helps to fan the flames of public opinion against Italians. Public opinion is already heavily against foreigners of all sorts.  Several riots have broken out near the residences of wealthy foreigners but have been successfully quelled by police forces. 

August 10th
Private letter from the Crown Prince to LT Abdul

There have been several disturbances throughout the country focusing against foreigners, the masses appear displeased and my father has deemed it unwise to reveal to the public who was behind the offer to purchase Chagos.  He believes that knowledge that it was the New Swiss would so inflame public opinion as to drive us into this war, which he seeks to avoid.  The publication of these so-called "memoirs" are merely an attempt by the pan-Islamists to drive us apart from all possible alliances. 
I implore you to have your father inform the Italian commander that Egypt does not wish to disturb our friendship in any way. 
On a personal note, please accept my condolences over your fiance's father breaking the engagement. 

[Darman]

August 15th

The Egyptian government announces that it has mobilized the I & II Cavalry Corps to protect the Kingdom's southern borders. 

[Desertfox]

The Egyptians would do well to remember why they have a fleet...

[maddox]

Of course the Egyptians remember why they have a fleet.

5 Fleurus II destroyers and 2 Demarce III cruisers...

[ciders]

And one submarine.

[Darman]

Egyptian recruiting poster:

???? ??? ????? ??????!

*note: Supposed to be Arabic for "I want YOU for the Royal Army"

[Darman]

Summary for August/September in Egypt:
*Egyptian military goes on a war footing as border patrol reports increased activity across the southern border.  Only certain units have been mobilized, namely I and II cavalry corps.  Some light naval units have been mobilized as have aircraft.  These activities are public events with troops and sailors parading through garrison and port towns before leaving. 
*A new corps (Marine, 5/1.5), is being raised at Port Sudan.  Recruiting started at the end of September and the Corps will be ready at the end of March 1920. 
All the above is public knowledge (if you want the names of the naval units then feel free to ask).  What follows is being kept very quiet, although the II Inf. Corps mobilization will get out eventually (you try mobilizing 50,000 men and no one but them knows about it). 
*II Infantry Corps (Port Sudan and Chagos) is mobilized in mid-September. 
*Several heavy naval units have been mobilized and have left port. 

[Darman]

October 1919 Egyptian shipyard XX Alexandria.

We are to repair that battleship, monsieur?  We can't, we don't know anything of her.

But you do harbormaster.  Your own heavy cruisers are her fathers. And she's Tiho, a Demarce IIIb Volcano defense cruiser.

We have to ask French yards to help us maintain those, we don't have the tools, part, the plans nor the knowledge.

Your government is aware of this "oversight", and soon a merchant with the plans, and the people to teach your people to coop with this kind of situation will arrive.  Just admit her to the drydock, and  start removing the damaged parts. Half of her crew will stay to help, when the other half is on leave. Oh, I hope the portside has room for a few dozen unbelievers that like a good pint of bier or wine... and widows that are willing to wed temporary.If not, we'll have to buy an enclave...

I think that can be arranged... Alexandria is no stranger to infidel foreign sailors.  Very well, we shall begin preparing the drydock to receive her.  But I want all your officers and engineers to oversee when we begin stripping her down.

Of course harbormaster. we don't want any mistake, as those would be costely.That is why the crew that will help you start up will consist of the chief engineer and his boys. With a sprinkling of the gunners and the marconi operators.

[Darman]

October 1919.  Somewhere along the southern Egyptian border

The trooper stares down the road and shakes his head to make sure he's not seeing things.  Nope, its still there.  He slowly backs around the corner of the lean-to that protects the border guards from the elements.  The flimsy wooden shelter feels inadequate to him now, with the threat now bearing down on him.  He rushes to the checkpoint's barracks a quarter mile away to wake his Lieutenant. 

Lieutenant Menferre Ay was young, only 19 years old.  His father had helped arrange a commission for his youngest son in the prestigious Dragoon Guards.  Lieutenant Ay was intelligent, he'd graduated top of his class of 23 from the military academy.  But nothing he had learned there had prepared him for this...

Looking out from the protection of his lean-to the trooper warily eyed the armed men tramping past him.  These men had marched all the way from Tel Aviv, it was rumored.  And they had arrived here seeking protection from the Allied armies arrayed against them.  He wondered where the Lieutenant planned to billet all these men, they needed some protection from this sudden downpour after all. 

Lieutenant Ay sat on the edge of his cot in the border post's barracks and sighed in relief.  He hadn't sat down for the last day and a half, ever since that trooper had woken him up.  Finding shelter for 2,997 men wasn't easy, especially not with supplies for only 30!  He absently-mindedly kicked at the rifles stacked at his feet.  He'd had to find food and shelter for those men, inform his superiors of this development, and secure the weapons of all these men.  He'd finally ended up stationing guards at the mess, at the border, and around the barracks.  Weapons and kit were crammed into every available space in the barracks, including the commander's bedroom.  Luckily he was no longer in command, a colonel from division headquarters had arrived a little over an hour before with a squadron of lancers to take charge.  Ay leans back to stretch before taking his boots off and promptly falls asleep, still fully geared up. 

[Darman]

Newly promoted First Lieutenant Abdul Faisal tries to keep his expression calm as he is led down a long corridor to one of the greatest treats of his life: a collection of new weapons from the interned New Swiss soldiers!  In the briefing he had received moments before he had been informed that several of these weapons were of completely new designs never before seen by Egyptian military authorities.  Upon further inspection an automatic rifle and a machine pistol were deemed the most important, as well as optical instruments intended to be attached to rifles for long distance shooting.  Additional items were still under examination. 
Captain Abdul left the research center filled with wonder at the new-fangled weapons the Swiss had possessed.  He started pondering the best means of employing them in combat and kept drawing blanks. 

[Darman]

Spring 1920

The recent windfall of exotic weaponry into the hands of the Army's Ordnance Corps has finally begun to bear fruit.  After several months of exhaustive tests the engineers and technicians assigned to the 1st Research Depot have succeeded in replicating one of the confiscated weapons.  No expense has been spared towards the goal of discovering how these weapons were made.  However, producing this weapon in enough quantities to be able to distribute them to troops is simply not feasible yet.  The precision instruments necessary for producing the machine tools required for the production lines must be ordered from abroad.  The materials that go into the weapon are of alloys new to our best weaponsmiths and chemists, it will take months for them to familiarize themselves with working the new alloys.  Additionally, equipment for mass-production of this weapon must be manufactured, but with the aforementioned lack of precision instruments that will be delayed.  It is my firmest belief that, if the required precision instruments can be acquired in a timely manner, the first production line for this new weapon can be opened sometime in the fall of 1920. 

[Darman]

15 April 1920

The Government of Egypt would like to announce that the Heliopolis Company for Chemical Industries (HCCI) and the Egyptian government have reached a £25 million deal, whereby HCCI is to take over operation of the government's Munitions Production Facility #1 and has received an export license.

A recent press release by the Egyptian government heralds a new era in Egyptian industry; the privatization of national defense industries.  This unprecedented deal opens the door for further acquisition of munitions factories by private corporations.